"Hello?" The voice on the receiving end was raspy. Weeping heard from the other end of the phone which awoke the coach immediately "Jamie, is everything alright?" There was a long moment of silence. "Jamie?" At this point coach, Troy was on his feet.

"Coach I'm sorry I'm calling you so early it's just..." Jamie sobbed before continuing "I'm supposed to call people to tell them, but my hands are shaking so badly." His crying was so heavy his father gently took the phone from him and continued on the phone. Mary rushed to her son's side to comfort him, tears in her own eyes. Frank took the phone and walked out onto the front porch, New York's cool spring air hitting him.

"Mason Reid passed away this morning." Frank felt the knot in the back of his throat. The coach heart fell to his stomach.

Both brothers rushed into the kitchen "Dad." Danny muttered.

"It can't be true," Joe added. Marry nodded her head.

"Jamie is upstairs, It's Sunday, I don't think he really wants to leave for church soon."

"Not Mas." Danny sat at the table covering his face with his hands.

"The Reid's?"

"I was leaving to speak with David and Amanda," Frank respond referring to Mason's parents. "I just don't know what to say to them, They're obviously devastated about losing a child.." Frank couldn't bear to imagine the unimaginable.

"He was only seventeen." Erin whipped the tears from her eyes.

"We saw that kid just last night." Danny quaked.

"I gotta go talk to Jamie." Joe sighed.

"He's not really up for talking."

"Well, I'm the only best friend he's got now." When Joe arrived at Jamie's door he paused. The pain Jamie must be feeling is unimaginable, Mason was a true brother to Jamie they were together all the time and basically everywhere sports games, practices, vacations, the list goes on and on, and to wake up one morning and all that is gone for a seventeen-year-old, he couldn't imagine but he swallowed the lump in his throat and did his special knock on Jamie's door.

"Jamie." Joe walked in, Jamie laid there with his back to the door, Joe knew he was awake because he could hear the low sobs. Joe sat on the bed, Jamie pulled the cover over his head.

"I know you don't want to talk and I can't blame you at all, I just want to be here for you and we don't even have to talk I just want to be here, I don't want you to be or feel alone, so if you want me to stay I'll stay." Joe waited for at least a sign from his brother that he wanted him to stay but Jamie stayed quite, Joe sighed softly, beginning to leave.

"You don't have to go." Jamie sniffled. Joe turned around and sat back onto the bed, Jamie's face was still covered with the blanket.

"I won't go anywhere." An hour went by then two, eventually, Joe laid down on his brother's bed listening to the small sniffles coming from him, Danny, Erin, Frank, and Mary walked past the room at separate times but didn't want to intrude.

"I just- can't believe he's gone." Jamie finally broke.

"I'm so sorry J. I love Mason he was a little brother to me and family member to all of us. I wish I knew why people leave, but i don't and it's so painful."

"David." Frank greeted his longtime neighbor, Frank scanned the broken-heart man, his hazel eyes bloodshot, obviously from crying. "I'm so so sorry."

"Would you like to come in?" Frank accepted the invitation, sitting down onto their sofa in the living room. "You remember the last time we were in this room together?" Frank nodded.

"Mas- My son and Jamie took my car for a joyride, when I called around looking for them you answered and came right over, scared the hell out of both of them when they walked in at 2:00.a.m and we were sitting here.

"They were grounded for months." Frank smiled at the memory.

"Amanda is with her mother and sisters. She said she couldn't be here, in this house and truth be told, I don't blame her." David confessed.

"Detectives showed up at my door this early this morning and said 'There's been an accident, involving your son." David wept at the vivid memory from less than 12 hours ago. "They said, Mas- My son had been killed in a single motorbike accident and that he was DOA on the scene. after I heard that my hearing faded, everything was in slow motion." Frank placed a hand of comfort onto his shoulder. "Everything in this house is a reminder, a reminder of my baby boy, he grew up here, on this block... Oh god." David shouted, "Jamie. How is he?"

"Devastated.. we all are."

"Your boy Frank, he's a great kid, I knew if mine was with yours he'd be good. How do I carry on from this?" How do we all?" Frank had no clue how to answer that, he'd never lost a child before and prayed to the gods he'd never would.

"We cling to each other we use each other as strength." Frank pursed his lips, continuing to comfort his grieving friend.

Joe had stayed behind with his little brother, After the rest of the family had left for St Luke's, shortly after the family had left Jamie had cried himself to sleep, Joe was downstairs setting up Sunday dinner, When they had returned.

"Hey pops." Joe gave a tight hug to his grandfather.

"How are you holding up son" Henry was concerned.

"I'm definitely devastated, but I'm not the one to be concerned about."

"Poor Jamie. Poor the family." Linda bellowed.

"It's like do we send him to school tomorrow or what?"

"It's genuinely up to him, If he wants to stay home then he stays." Mary declared.

"Calls on the house phone has-been slowly flooding in the majority from his teammates. One from this girl named Eddie." Joe added.

"I'm sure he doesn't want to go to school tomorrow because everyone is going to ask him if he's okay," Erin added.

"We can't be too sympathetic If he decides to come down here and eat dinner." Danny looked at the women of his family.

"Geez Danny let's just ignore it like it doesn't exist- I guess!" Erin snapped.

"I'm not saying too but you guys will stare him down and be too sympathetic. That could be really annoying." Danny argued back.

"Well, Danny's he's not a twenty-seven-year-old man! he's only seventeen he's going to need sympathy!" The two began to argue back and forth until Mary put an end to it.

"Dad, can I talk to you in the back?" Joe wondered, Frank, nodded meeting his son in the backyard.

"Dad I spent all day in the room with Jamie and he only talked to me for no longer than a minute. He needs you, I don't know how to explain it but no one can comfort better than a father and he needs you." Frank pursed his lips.

The whole table had been set for dinner but the family waited a while longer to see if Frank would come down and hopefully Jamie with him. The waiting game took just a bit too long and it was getting late for Sunday.

"It's already 7:35" Henry pointed out. Mary's sighed she knew the rest of the family had things to attend to especially early in the morning.

"Who would like to say grace?" Mary asked.

"I will." Frank declared rounding the corner with Jamie by his side, they watched how the youngest sat at the end of the table next to his father's side, After Grace was said, each family member would periodically peek over at Jamie who wasn't eating at all.

"I can put your plate up for late-" She was interrupted by Jamie rushing off to go upstairs.

"I'll go." Frank placed his napkin on the table going after his youngest.

"This freaking sucks" Danny groaned. After dinner had finished Mary put away Frank's and Jamie's plate, Frank Had still been upstairs with Jamie, The family turned on the nightly news to only see the beloved Family friend face on it.

"This morning we brought you news about a Brooklyn teenager by the name of Mason Reid," The brown-haired hazel-eyed, boy picture popped up on the screen. "Mason attended Bedford High School in Brooklyn, he was Captain of the baseball team who had just won state last school year and set to graduate three months from now, where he would attend college in Los Angeles at UCLA in the fall. He was killed early this morning around 1 a.m. in a single vehicle accident, he was on his dirt bike traveling down west down Snyder Ave. Where he had lost control of the bike crashing into a tree. He was only seventeen years old. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family-" Henry had muted volume.

"I can't believe it." Erin cried into Joe's shoulder.

The next day moved horribly slow for the Reagan's and the Reid's. Jamie was not even close ready to go in back to school yet, so Mary or Frank and not rushed him into it, Monday night of the following day had come and the school had planned a candlelight vigil a few days before Mason's wake at the crash site. The school would have guidance counselors on campus all week and they would continue to be there probably for the rest of the school year. Jamie's family had reminded him that he didn't have to go to the site if he didn't want to, but he did. When Jamie and his family arrived to the vigil, Mason's family and half of the whole school was already present. An unpleasant deep feeling in Jamie's stomach had begun to make him sick. Joe and Danny walked Jamie through the crowd, everyone had already had their candles in hand, ready to be lit, kids that Jamie had never even met before gave him looks of sympathy.

"Jamie." Amanda hugged Jamie.

"Hi, Ms. Reid," Jamie mumbled. Also hugging Mr. Reid and Mason's brother Malcolm. They began to light the candles.

"I just wanted to say." Jamie's voice was raspy, sorrow loud in it. "Thank you to all that came out tonight, it means so much to me and my family and Mason's... Mason was my best-friend..actually, he was my brother." Loud sobs from the crowd heard. "He was that kid that always kept you laughing and kept a smile on your face, no one had a bad thing to say about him, he encouraged others on and off the field to do better and that's something we all can take from him. The last time I ever saw my brother was two nights ago, he was leaving my house after our families had just had a barbecue. He asked me to walk him out.." Jamie pause he looked out to the crowd. What looked to be the whole school and caring strangers were out there.

"In our sixteen years of us being friends he'd never asked if I can walk him out, I told him he was a big boy and he could walk himself out and he said please and so I did... He said to me.." Tears falling from Jamie's eyes, "'This is our year Reagan' We said our goodbyes and for the first time in forever we said 'I love you' to other. That's why it's so important to tell your loved ones you love them because you never know when it could be the last time... So if anyone has any stories about Mas they would like to share please come up and share them."

Jamie passed the Microphone to coach Troy. Mason's dad David gave Jamie a tight hug.

After that one hundred-fifty other students throughout the night came up and shared encounters with Mason. There's nothing more in the world his mother love to hear then stories about her son being a great boy she raised him to be. Jamie had Mason's number eight Jersey that was folded into a large picture frame and placed it beside The countless candles and flowers that were placed at the trunk of the tree.

TBC

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